Aurora alert! Northern lights will be possible Wednesday night into Thursday morning as a strong geomagnetic storm unfolds with the arrival of a "cannibal" coronal mass ejection (CME) on Earth.

Two large, consecutive bursts of plasma ejected off the sun's corona on Monday with the second, slightly faster CME, overtaking the first, hence the cannibal nomenclature.

Of course, a completely clear sky over Western Washington has been a tough feat lately. While rain clouds could linger over Central Sound tonight, most areas will see at least partial clearing. So be on alert for aurora anytime after nightfall.

Find a dark place, away from city light pollution, to increase your odds of seeing the faint green glow along the northern horizon.

If chasing auroras in the mountains, you'll be driving in a slushy 4"-6" of new snow at Stevens and Snoqualmie Pass through tonight.

While impacts to technology from this geomagnetic storm may be low, forecast aurora activity will be high across the northern United States. The northern lights could be spotted as far south as Portland, OR, Cheyenne, WY, Chicago, IL, and New York City.